(9) 🧑🧑🧒🧒 minority influence Flashcards
what does minority influence refer to?
situations where a small group of people influence the behaviour and beliefs of others, often through informational social influence - leading to internalisation.
how can minority influence result in the minority view becoming the majority?
starts slow but through consistency, commitment and flexibility (Moscovici) more of majority processes and adopts minority view (snowball effect), and overtime minority view becomes the majority.
why does the minority influence need to hold consistent views?
makes people rethink their own views
what are the two types of consistency?
• synchronic consistency = people in the minority group having same agreement
• diachronic consistency = same agreement over
why does the minority influence need to be committed?
the augmentation principle states when minorities engage in extreme activities that cause risk, majority members pay more attention to them
> eg: vietnamese buddhist monk set himself on fire in 1963 and drew global attention to injustice, contributing to fall of the Vietnamese gov later that year.
why does the minority influence need to be flexible?
to not be seen as dogmatic; minority must adapt their POV, accept valid counterarguments and balance between flexibility and consistency
✅ - supporting research for consistency
🦄 - biased sample
evidence: Moscovici et al (1969), when consistent minority of confederates claimed blue slides were green, 32% of genuine Ps agreed at least once, & gave incorrect answers on 8.4% of trials. contrasts with 1.25% of trials when minority was inconsistent
explain: important variable for success
🦄: 172 female Ps from America - cannot generalise results to other populations or conclude male Ps would respond to minority influence in same way - research often suggests females are more likely than males to conform (Neto et al.), due to a greater need for social approval. low population validity
✅ - real world applications of commitment
evidence: gay rights movement, environmental groups, suffragettes, and civil rights movement were consistent to their msg & utilised the augmentation principle by causing danger to themselves (freedom riders: risked violence and
arres); eventually caused social change they aimed for.
explain: important variable for success
❌ - research into minority influence often use artificial tasks
evidence: studies such as identifying colour of a slide in Moscovici et al’s. study (1969) lack mundane realism and aren’t representative of real life situations.
explain: research lacks ecological validity so limited in explaining how minority influence operates in real-life social situations
🧠
for a03, there is one study mentioned with a counterpoint. this study is also a limitation a03. after naming the researcher, summarise their study.
• strength - Moscovici (1969),
🦄 - 172🇺🇸👯♀️ (Neto et al.)
> consistent minority claimed blue slides were green & 32% of genuine Ps agreed at least once, giving incorrect answers on 8.4% of trials. contrasts with 1.25% of trails when minority was inconsistent.
so consistency an important variable
🦄> cannot generalise to other pop or males (Neto et al says women more likely for social approval), low pop validity
• limitation - Moscovici (1969)
> artifical, mundane realism, lacks representation, lacks ecological validity, limits explaining minority influence in real life social situations
🧠
what was the last a03 point that didn’t include a study?
• strength - real world applications
> eg of 👨❤️👨, 🧚🏾♀️, 🌏 and civil rights movement consistent to msg & utilised augmentation principle by causing danger to themselves (freedom riders: risked violence and
arrest), caused social change they aimed for.
so commitment an important variable
